NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) Rating Lowered to Hold at Zacks Research

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) was downgraded by research analysts at Zacks Research from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a note issued to investors on Tuesday, Zacks reports.

A number of other brokerages have also weighed in on NTAP. Loop Capital set a $300.00 price objective on shares of NetApp in a report on Wednesday, October 7th. Argus set a $225.00 price target on shares of NetApp and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 11th. Wall Street Zen downgraded NetApp from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, October 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of NetApp from $175.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 25th. Finally, Citigroup decreased their target price on shares of NetApp from $209.00 to $190.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, September 3rd. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $205.24.

NetApp Stock Up 4.1%

Shares of NASDAQ NTAP opened at $183.12 on Tuesday. NetApp has a 12-month low of $93.69 and a 12-month high of $240.87. The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $203.79 and its 200-day moving average price is $153.13. The stock has a market capitalization of $35.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.83, a P/E/G ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 1.52.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, September 2nd. The data storage provider reported $2.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.46. The business had revenue of $2.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.84 billion. NetApp had a return on equity of 119.13% and a net margin of 19.18%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 29.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.15 EPS. NetApp has set its FY 2027 guidance at 9.730-10.030 EPS and its Q2 2027 guidance at 2.540-2.640 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that NetApp will post 8.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Carrie Palin sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $216.43, for a total value of $1,082,150.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 6,660 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,441,423.80. This represents a 42.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Thomas Nevens sold 5,940 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $195.21, for a total transaction of $1,159,547.40. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 7,747 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,512,291.87. This trade represents a 43.40% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 172,524 shares of company stock worth $34,824,306. Insiders own 0.36% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Advisors Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in NetApp in the 3rd quarter valued at about $20,129,000. Private Wealth Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in NetApp by 529.7% in the third quarter. Private Wealth Asset Management LLC now owns 40,415 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $8,490,000 after purchasing an additional 33,997 shares in the last quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC grew its position in shares of NetApp by 529.7% in the 3rd quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 11,976 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $2,516,000 after buying an additional 10,074 shares during the last quarter. Ieq Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of NetApp during the third quarter worth about $357,000. Finally, Independent Advisor Alliance lifted its stake in NetApp by 25.9% in the third quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 1,801 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $347,000 after buying an additional 371 shares during the last quarter. 92.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

NetApp Company Profile

NetApp, Inc. develops data storage and data management technologies for businesses and other organizations. Its offerings support workloads across on-premises infrastructure, public cloud environments and hybrid settings, with services for storing, managing, protecting and moving data. The company’s portfolio includes its ONTAP data management software, all-flash and hybrid-flash storage systems, object storage, and cloud storage and data services. NetApp also provides tools to help customers manage data across different environments and offers infrastructure through its Keystone storage-as-a-service model.